Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Investing Through the Status Window.

Episode 58: The Festival Of Dark Mages (4).

A loud bell sound abruptly awakened Allen. The one who rang the wake-up bell was none other than the Blind Saintess, Ordnung.

“The enemy is here———!!!”

The moment the awakened members grabbed their weapons and hurriedly got up, ghouls that had been crawling to the village hidden under the sand burst forth. And with a leap, they hooked their arms over the stone wall and effortlessly jumped over it in a single bound. This was a phenomenon occurring simultaneously all over the stone wall.

——!!

Faced with the ghastly sight of ghouls coming over the wall and the smell of rotting corpses, they realized this was not a dream but reality.

“Everyone, form up—!”

Upon spotting the ghoul, Allen shouted to his team members, who were standing hesitantly. If he had been a complete rookie, he might have been disconcerted by the sudden appearance of the ghoul, but ever since he fell into the slimy swamp of the monster queen, he had become quite brave.

The Allen-Mercenary Group positioned Allen, their leader, and the milk-jug mage against the building wall while they formed a semi-circular arch.

“Forget about everything else. Just focus on the ghoul in front of you—!”

Almost simultaneously with the group leader’s shout, a horde of ghouls began rushing towards the mercenaries. The villagers standing guard on either side also banded together as much as possible to confront the ghouls.

“These damn bastards——!!”

Along with curses, the warriors’ weapons buzzed through the air. The ghouls moved more nimbly than expected, but their resilience was not strong. They fell as their skulls shattered by the swords, clubs, and bludgeons.

However, the problem was their number. The number of ghouls climbing over the stone wall was far greater than anticipated.

‘…Shit! How many villages did that bastard devour?!’

The ghouls indiscriminately attacked men, women, and children alike. Even a child, looking about six years old, rushed in with a strange cackling sound. Of course, the ruthless mercenaries did not pity the already dead bodies.

“Di—e! You! Ba—stards——.”

Bald Illiterate Billy accentuated his curses each time he smashed a ghoul’s skull. Around them, the ground was carpeted with the cracked heads of the dead.

Fortunately, the members performed well against the horde of ghouls. Especially the valor of the Blind Saintess was in a league of its own—!

Ordnung burst the heads of the attacking ghouls by swinging her palm and the back of her hand as if slapping them. Not even a scratch was made on her. Allen found this sight so reassuring that it made his legs tingle.

‘Shit, so fucking strong…!’

The northern warrior Zunisha was also making quite an impressive effort, but still, she was no match for the Blind Saintess. It was almost like the skills of an A-rank person.

…Just then, something large jumped up onto the stone wall.

——!

At first glance, it was a bizarre creature. Clearly, it looked like a four-legged beast, but its head was that of a human. …No, both the four legs and the torso were made out of corpses. Clearly, it was the work of a necromancer.

As soon as he saw the monstrous creature made of corpses, Allen quickly turned his head towards the mage. As soon as the group leader’s gaze met hers, she immediately stepped onto a high pedestal and gathered magical power in her right hand. A powerful elemental magic—.

The human head attached to the monster’s head turned swiftly towards her. At the same time, a vigorous leap.

Certainly, its leaping power was tremendous. Enough to reach the mercenaries from the stone wall in a single bound.

However, she, too, had broken through death’s grip several times. Although the corpse monster’s leap was undoubtedly threatening, she was unshaken. She focused on the magic without any worry because she believed in the group leader’s words as if they were ironclad—.

‘…Now…!’

The milk-jug mage threw the clump of mana she had gathered in her right hand when the distance had significantly closed due to the monster’s leap. And it detonated precisely on the monster’s face, exploding.

Boooom————.

With a massive explosion, the corpse monster’s body burst, and its remains poured down like rain. The mercenaries were even more enraged as they were drenched in it.

“Yeah, you bastards——.”

Allen jumped up and down, screaming at the members who had unwittingly broken away from the formation in their excitement.

“Billy—! Are you out of your mind—?! Get back quickly—! Zunisha—! Zunisha, you bitch—! I told you not to act rashly—!”

As he emphasized repeatedly, to overcome such numerical inferiority, it was crucial to have one’s back covered. Unless one was a character of the Blind Saintess’s caliber, the rest could only allow attacks when pushed with numbers. And if that kept accumulating, it would eventually lead to collapse.

Fortunately, the members regained their senses at Allen’s shout and quickly returned to their positions. This was why the role of the group leader, who assessed the situation from behind and issued orders at the right time and place, was important. Because there were unexpected variables that could erupt anytime and anywhere, dealing with those variables was the group leader’s responsibility.

Corpse monsters continued to appear one or two at a time. They pounced on the village youths, who were barely managing to fight off the ghouls, and in an instant, they were overwhelmed and swept away by the enemies.

“Aaaaaaahhhhhhh———.”

“Save meeeeee—————.”

With a harrowing scream, nearly ten people were massacred in an instant. Now, the ghouls had invaded the village, indiscriminately slaughtering the people.

“Ah—.” The Blind Saint, still with mercy in her heart, could not contain her sorrow.

“Group Leader, the people…!”

However, she, who cried out, knew all too well that there was nothing he could do. A wrong move could endanger them all.

‘……Damn, it can’t go on like this…….’

Allen had planned to deal with the enemies sparingly and kill the necromancer when the opportunity arose, but an unexpected variable had slightly altered his plan.

“Ordnung—!”

“Yes—!”

“Find the necromancer. Find and kill him. You can do it, right? That’s the only way to save the people—!”

Allen provoked the mercy of the Blind Saintess.

“……I’ll try…!”

The Blind Saintess nodded firmly as if making a vow and removed her blindfold. When she opened her closed eyes, eyes as profound as the universe itself appeared. The entirely black eyeballs instantly found a point connected to these evil energies.

“Euh.”

She felt mana being rapidly drained from her body in real-time. She knew that a slight mistake could lead to a major disaster, but if she didn’t act, even more people would be sacrificed.

‘I am…, a saintess…!’

“Oh God, grant me strength and courage.”

The Blind Saintess clenched her fists tightly and slowly started to run forward.

With agile movements, she avoided the ghouls as much as she could. When it was hard to avoid them, she swung her arms, sending the ghouls flying far away. Dozens of ghouls rushed at her, but nothing could stop her advance.

With a single leap over the stone wall, Ordnung began to run madly towards the necromancer standing on a not-so-distant sand dune.

Thinking the creature was just some crazy bastard—, he nonchalantly sent a corpse monster but couldn’t help being horrified when he saw it burst and die from a mere punch.

“Damn it—!”

Seeing his pride and joy burst and die from just one punch, not even magic, he realized that his opponent was an unexpectedly formidable adversary.

The necromancer, in shock, wildly summoned ghouls and corpse monsters, but she was too fast for them. She, who had just been near the distant stone wall, had now gotten very close to him.

“Die—!”

He desperately fired mana bullets, but she easily dodged them with swift movements.

“Ah.”

He froze as he saw the devilish pair of eyes that had approached right in front of his nose.

The Blind Saintess didn’t hesitate for a moment to punch the bastard’s head, and then, with a booming explosion, the bastard’s head burst.

The moment the necromancer’s headless body started to fall backward, suddenly, its arm moved and shot a mana bullet towards her chest.

—————!!!!

An utterly unexpected attack. However, the Blind Saintess had already twisted her body before even thinking the moment she saw the bastard’s arm move.

A critical strike that even a fairly strong warrior couldn’t have avoided. …But she dodged it with the [Genius] instinct of a disciple who had become accustomed to the superhuman training of her master.

Without realizing it, even the Blind Saintess, who had dodged the attack, couldn’t help but feel a chill down her spine. Had it hit her, she would have suffered a fatal injury. No matter how strong and sturdy she was, it was nearly impossible to withstand magic at such close range with her bare body. …Unless she was her master, perhaps.

‘…How did that bastard move?’

However, her thoughts were brief, and her actions were swift. She felt the sinister energy flowing from his chest and quickly extended her arm towards it. Her hand easily pierced through his chest and tightly grasped a bead in his heart.

At that moment, his resistance intensified.

‘How dare you—!’

With a slight exertion of strength by the Blind Saintess, the bead shattered into pieces.

—————————!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At the same time, that evil and gigantic energy shot up into the sky like an arrow. The headless torso fell to the sandy ground, convulsing briefly before it stopped and gradually turned into dust and scattered.

Hoo hoo hoo.

The Blind Saintess briefly looked down at the dead necromancer before putting her blindfold back on.

“Euh….”

After swallowing too vast a spectrum of colors and consuming a large amount of mana, she momentarily staggered from dizziness.

‘…I did it. I’ve done it. I did it. I saved the people. I’m truly a saintess…!’

Ordnung had proved she was a real saintess with her fists.

…Perhaps it was just a feeling that fists were more comfortable than words.